Monthly Archives: July 2016

For a few years now various municipalities have been requiring most pet owners to outfit their critter-friends with microchips – for tracking, health purposes, etc. I warned last year that this phenomena would spread to our children some time soon.

The public will accept microchips as easily as they accepted barcodes on consumer items, the report says.

Mother of three Steffany Rodroguez-Neely talks about how she briefly lost her daughter after she hid behind a rack of clothes in a department store – “Every parent’s nightmare when you can’t find your child.”

I hate to say it, but the public probably will accept microchips. Heck, they’ll probably demand them. Anyway, this will likely be mandated by law (maybe in the next 20 years).

The all-seeing chip and eye. Youtube.

A few, wisely thinking, are raising an alarm about who will be able to access the chip information and what, exactly, they will be able to learn therefrom. Proponents, of course, say there’s nothing to worry about – this is just a safety measure. Safety, safety, safety – the bane of liberty and civilization.

Electronics expert Stuart Lipoff said that microchipping children is “safe and inevitable.”

“People should be aware that testing is being done right now. The military is not only testing this out, but already utilizes its properties. It’s not a matter of if it will happen, but when.”

Branding human cattle

Lipoff also told NBC that people shouldn’t be concerned about “big brother” tracking their children – this technology will only be used for “safety and convenience,” he says – and that the technology is nothing more than an upgrade on traditional cattle branding, and barcodes on consumer items.

“When barcodes first came out in the late 1960s, people were appalled. They were wary of them and did not understand the concept. Today, it is so commonplace, we don’t even notice it. A microchip would work much in the same way,” he said, adding that it will “definitely happen.”

The only catch is that you won’t know exactly what is being put into your child’s body. You also won’t know who will have access to the data. If history repeats, it will go from being technology adopted for its ‘convenience and safety’ and then overnight will become mandatory for you and your family – or else.

If that’s the only catch, it’s one hell of a catch, don’tchathink? I don’t see the barcode connection. Barcodes are labels on products. People are not products to be tracked, shipped, stored, or sold. Still, the story is right – most people will accept chips just as they did barcode labeling and anything else sold to them as new and innovative. Most, but not all.

A friend and I once journeyed back to our alma mater, the Terry College of Business at UGA. The friendly kids at the welcome office were so happy to have live alumni on hand that they offered us free Terry t-shirts. The shirts said “Terry” over a huge barcode. We both declined the offer; it was eerie to say the least.

Could this technology help find missing persons? Yes. Could it assist in preventing or treating medical conditions? Perhaps. Might it give parents peace of mind? It could.

It could also be used to track one’s every move, location, and activity. It could be used for much worse than tracking. But, hey, Big Brother would never (has never) done anything bad before, has he? Nothing to worry about.

I suppose the masses will inevitably accept this – until they clamor for it. Me, I’m already waiting patiently for my chipping session. Here’s a picture:

Yesterday I had the opportunity to sit in for a little while and attend an e-conference on cyber-security and Pokemon. This was put on for the benefit of large businesses and organizations which have something to lose to the game – many things actually. I was astounded.

I see people playing the game everywhere. To think it just got started a week or so back. People are having fun but there is cause for concern. Many businesses are using their exposure to the game (unwittingly hosting Pokestops) as free advertising. Outwardly they welcome players and tout themselves as hip. Inwardly, many of these exact same companies are worried. They have good cause.

blackappleintl.com.

Pokemon Go was designed to work very well on both Apple and Android devices. Part of its universal success is the way it utilizes most of a phone’s features. Depending on one’s device, the game and its makers may have root access to up to 60-70% of the device’s systems. Root access means the game can, theoretically, manipulate and control most of the phone. It probably has easy backdoor access to the rest.

The odds are those who made the game are not interested in maliciously accessing or misusing a player’s phone – that would be very bad for business. When it was pointed out to them that they had such unprecedented control, they admitted to overkill in their software design. They wanted the game to run smoothly and it does because it is so powerful as an app. Players give them the right to that access and potential control – it’s in the terms in the app agreement people click without reading. People willingly give Pokemon a level of access to their digital lives that the FBI has been unable to obtain with Court orders.

This presents several problems for businesses. First, people are using company phones and devices to play the game. That means they are signing over access to and control of cloud information which might otherwise be privileged. It also means they are probably playing on company time.

Remember, Pokemon itself is not likely to misuse the information it is privy to. However, this breach of security is a hacker’s dream. Experts suggest it would be very easy to hack the app and upload a variety of malware or ransom-ware or to simply clone the device or steal information.

Big business is now spending big money to combat this threat that didn’t even exist a month ago. They are also concerned that a host of similar knock-off apps are coming to ride the wave of Poke-success. A Harry Potter app is likely in the works right now. Success upon success.

Ordinary people would be wise to assess how all of them might affect them. A hacker could backdoor his way into one’s iPhone and essentially lock down the best features until the owner paid a fee for restoration.

There are other and more common problems with the game too. It has already been reported that people are trespassing while in search of the little … whatever they ares. People are winding up in places, some of them sensitive (power grid, etc.) where they probably don’t need to be. People are getting lost. They falling and injuring themselves. They are causing traffic accidents.

All of these things should be cause for second-guessing the utility of the game. I would suggest playing (if one must) on a throw-away device – a Trackfone or something similar – something disconnected entirely from one’s other accounts and business. Pokemon spotters might be a good idea to keep players from falling down old wells. People probably shouldn’t play on company time or while driving automobiles. As with most things, a little common sense goes a long way.

Tax increases and Democrats go together like sunrise and the east. It’s natural, predictable. It’s also disturbing. Like the meme says: “Taxation is theft.” Well, armed robbery really. The point is – they want your money and they always have a plan to get it.

Gary Varvel/Pinterest.

Americans for Tax Reform put together a list of some of Hillary’s proposed tax increases. I say “some of” because they’re will surely be more if she is elected. Here’s the majority of it:

Hillary Clinton has made clear she intends to dramatically raise taxes on the American people if elected. She has proposed an income tax increase, a business tax increase, a death tax increase, a capital gains tax increase, a tax on stock trading, an “Exit Tax” and more (see below). Her planned net tax increase on the American people is at least $1 trillion over ten years, based on her campaign’s own figures.

Hillary has endorsed several tax increases on middle income Americans, despite her pledge not to raise taxes on any American making less than $250,000. She has said she would be fine with a payroll tax hike on all Americans, she has endorsed a steep soda tax, endorsed a 25% national gun tax, and most recently, her campaign manager John Podesta said she would be open to a carbon tax. It’s no wonder that when asked by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos if her pledge was a “rock-solid” promise, she slipped and said the pledge was merely a “goal.” In other words, she’s going to raise taxes on middle income Americans.

Income Tax Increase – $350 Billion: Clinton has proposed a $350 billion income tax hike in the form of a 28 percent cap on itemized deductions.

Business Tax Increase — $275 Billion: Clinton has called for a tax hike of at least $275 billion through undefined business tax reform, as described in a Clinton campaign document.

“Fairness” Tax Increase — $400 Billion: According to her published plan, Clinton has called for a tax increase of “between $400 and $500 billion” by “restoring basic fairness to our tax code.” These proposals include a “fair share surcharge,” the taxing of carried interest capital gains as ordinary income, and a hike in the Death Tax.

But there are even more Clinton tax hike proposals not included in the tally above. Her campaign has failed to release specific details for many of her proposals. The true Clinton net tax hike figure is likely much higher than $1 trillion.

For instance:

Capital Gains Tax Increase — Clinton has proposed an increase in the capital gains tax to counter the “tyranny of today’s earnings report.” Her plan calls for a byzantine capital gains tax regime with six rates. Her campaign has not put a dollar amount on this tax increase.

Tax on Stock Trading — Clinton has proposed a new tax on stock trading. Costs associated with this new tax will be borne by millions of American families that hold 401(k)s, IRAs and other savings accounts. The tax increase would only further burden markets by discouraging trading and investment. Again, no dollar figure for this tax hike has been released by the Clinton campaign.

“Exit Tax” – Rather than reduce the extremely high, uncompetitive corporate tax rate, Clinton has proposed a series of measures aimed at inversions including an “exit tax” on income earned overseas. The term “exit tax” is used by the campaign itself. Her campaign document describing this proposal says it will raise $80 billion in tax revenue, but claims some of the $80 billion will be plowed into tax relief. How much? The campaign doesn’t say.

This is, all of it, insane. The federal government already spends about $4Trillion per year – mostly on welfare and warfare (neither Constitutional). What could they possibly want or need with another $Trillion? And, the increases, even if they all became law, wouldn’t raise that much anyway. Taxes affect behavior. Increased taxation of income, for example, will cause people and businesses to curtail their incomes so as to avoid paying the tax. Thus, there is less money to steal … tax as a result.

Businesses (the big ones) don’t really pay their income taxes. They pass them on to you and you pay them through higher prices and fees. If $275 Billion is raised, it will be on your backs.

I love the “Fairness tax” idea. To them simplification always means paying more. Period. It reminds me of an old joke from the 90s – Bill Clinton’s simplified, revised tax form. It was just two lines in its entirety: 1) “How much did you make?” and 2) “Send it in.” So simple. So fair.

These are merely proposals. Most likely would not make it through Congress. Still, if the left has shown anything during the past century or so, it is that they get what they want – or, at least some of it. Right now, as usual, they want yours. Fair enough?

I see a lot of folks out there playing Pokemon Go. In their cars. At the gym. In the store. My fireman buddy reports they come to the station day and night looking for those elusive … whatever they ares. They’ve overrun the park where I jog and hike. Today when I ventured out it was about 100 Degrees so there weren’t that many to run around. Actually, at 100 my “run” was more of a stooping, sweating, grumbling, weary stumble (but I did it!). Anyway, it almost looks like they’re having fun with it all. Good for them. Did you know the Pokemon can hibernate? Or, was that incubate? Whatever.

Constitutimon!? bc.ctvnews.ca.

I’ve come up with a short list of things that could be included, scavenger-style, in the next update for the game. Wouldn’t it be fun to go around beating the digital bushes to find:

An honest politician?

A useful government program?

Or a Constitutional government program?

A government program that wasn’t bankrupting us?

Local lone wolf terrorists? (Think of the fun they’d have collecting their gold coins or stars(??) and fighting of the Caliphate!)

A plausible explanation for how WTC 7 collapsed without the aid of explosives?

A way to quantitatively ease the Federal Reserve out of existence?

How about helping O.J. find the real killer(s)?

Jobs for all these protesters who spring up everywhere?

Obama’s birth certificate? (I know 4G ain’t the best in some parts of Kenya…)

Any “real” Georgia fans who followed Mark Richt down to Miami?

An end to the federal regulatory code?

Gun free zones which are also crime free?

The lost city of Detroit?

The computer that comes up with all these awful television and movie plots?

Zamfir? (Remember him? Master of the pan flu … no.)

Snipes! (Who didn’t love a snipe hunt?)

Paul Ryan’s spine?

The Smurf village.

A feasible way to excise D.C. from North America?

Men who have read 50 Shades of Grey? (A real challenge.)

Green space chickens?

All the other Pokemon-ers who have fallen off cliffs or into wells or down holes.

With all those folks out there looking for something, I figure they might want to try finding something other than cartoon characters. Trivial enough? Probably not.

Earlier today I wrote an article about how sitting in a cubicle like a zombie will kill you. If you’re already undead, you might as well go all the way, right? In my story I mentioned that the job itself might be a problem.

Okay, he’s right, right? The old economy is on life support. And the “old way” hasn’t really been around that long. At any rate it isn’t working anymore.

5) Income is Disappearing

In the past 25 years, real income has gone from $36,000 to $33,000 for people ages 18 to 35.

Why? Who knows. Because nobody cares.

Then the talking blobs on TV tell you you have to start saving during those years.

Meanwhile, the cost of living has gone up.

How do you save, when it costs more to LIVE, while the money coming in the bank is going down.

Society is being strangled. I don’t blame anyone. It’s not the government’s fault. It’s not Wall Street’s fault. Or Main Street’s fault.

Jobs were a myth from the beginning.

The Industrial Revolution standardized society so that factory workers would show up at the same time, have the same education, hit the same bolt on the same nut at the same time, and get paid every two weeks.

That’s the truth, good, bad or indifferent. I’m a fuddy-duddy. Yet, even I realize things are changing and must change. It’s not just incomes that are going down (away?). Home ownership is at the lowest level in over 50 years – only 62% of adults own a house. And, most of them don’t even own one – a bank owns it for them.

The whole economy is being shaken up. Facebook, today, passed Berkshire Hathaway in terms of market cap. Let that sink in for a second. Then again, many of you are reading this right now because you saw it on Facebook, not through one of Buffett’s companies.

vimeo.com/HP.

I had a conversation with a friend yesterday and another, similar one today about how I publish words. To some, what I do seems like wizardry. Maybe it is in a sense. But, its academic and logistical, not magical. Me – computer – internet – Amazon – your computer, phone or bookshelf. Kind of like: cow – farmer – bottle – truck – grocery store – your fridge. Easy, huh?

The old economy is on life support and the funeral arrangements are now being made for the traditional publishing industry (and the bookstores). Meanwhile, Amazon keeps posting record profit after record profit. They capitalize on me and my computer and I on them. Heck, I’m preparing to give them two new amazing works to offer world-wide in a few days (weeks? – y’all know I’m slow). Then, I’m publishing more. And more after that.

If the world is changing, I’m going to make the most of it. I hope you do to.

You knew that but now there’s scientific evidence. The Telegraph has an excellent piece on the threat of the modern, sedentary lifestyle or work style.

Office workers must exercise for one hour a day to combat the deadly risk of modern working lifestyles, a major Lancet study has found.

Research on more than one million adults found that sitting for at least eight hours a day could increase the risk of premature death by up to 60 per cent.

Scientists said sedentary lifestyles were now posing as great a threat to public health as smoking, and were causing more deaths than obesity.

They urged anyone spending hours at their desk to change their daily routine to take a five minute break every hour, as well as exercise at lunchtimes and evenings.

It’s not enough that you have the work itself to kill you – the angry bosses, the irritating co-workers, the customers who want everything for free (with no respect to boot). It’s also the hours of dull, slumped sitting there, wallowing in it all.

The EPA and other monitoring groups have long said the air inside our offices and frequently our houses is more polluted than the worst air outside. What surprised me about this story is the nugget that the ills associated with the cubicle coffin are more dangerous than the threat of obesity. Of course, the two are closely linked. I’ve worked in some large offices and visited others; healthy workers are in short supply.

weknowmemes.com

What didn’t surprise me here is the call by the study authors for more government programs. In an age when, for many the state has replaced both God and family, everything under the sun cries out for a program or two. Interestingly enough, they never seem to work or they make things worse.

Luckily, the story also provides a solution one can utilize now and without government lording or interference. Exercise is the solution. Through fitness one literally has the ability to forestall death (at least the accelerated death of slow office work). At some companies the workouts are being incorporated into the work – standing desks, treadmill desks, gyms, longer breaks, etc. These are the better companies, the ones one would want to work for anyway. Those that don’t get with the program are a problem. If you want to be healthy, you need to take stock of what you do for a living and how you do it.

One doesn’t have to lead a Dilbert-like existence nor load boxcars all day. Believe it or not, there is a happy, healthy medium out there. Go find it.

I’ve written in the past few months, briefly, about the FDA’s new authority over and campaign against the cigar industry. I was planning a larger, comprehensive story on the new regulations and the potentially devastating impact they will likely have. Christopher Westley, writing at mises.org, has done a lot of the heavy lifting for me – and you.

The FDA estimates that small businesses like El Titan, which produces 250,000 to 300,000 cigars per year, will pay $278,000 to $397,000 in application fees and other costs during the initial compliance period. While El Titan will be able to pass some of those fees on to the companies that hire it to make private-label smokes, it will still need to raise prices.

The new rules will have the greatest impact on companies less than a decade old, which will be required to apply for pre-market approval at an average cost of $6,560 per application, according to FDA estimates.

Westley, quoting a Miami Herald story.

These are extraordinarily high prices to pay – for nothing. The FDA asserts it has a duty to protect public health. So, cigars will now be subject to the same rigorous but useless testings and waiting periods that, as-is, keep new drugs away from needy patients, often until after the patient dies. Some doctors estimate the FDA process kills more people than it helps. Smoke on that.

As good as his article is, it doesn’t even begin to cover some of the other nonsense regulations which will start taking effect soon (like next week soon). I will probably still someday add my own spin on the subject. I may wait to see how it actually plays out in CigarLand on a daily basis. Higher prices and aggravation are assuredly in store for all.

Summers in the South are always warm yet often unpredictable. Some are blazing, burning, horribly hot. Others are mild, they pass into Fall with little fanfare. This one is what I call a slow summer; it seemed to ramp itself up out of nowhere and now, barely halfway through, it’s just hot. Constantly hot. 99 degrees with high humidity hot. I am officially over this season and ready for Autumn.

Pinterest.

Being as such, I give you a fun list of things to do in the sweltering heat of July and August:

Sweat. A lot. Outside. Inside. Early in the morning. Late in the afternoon. Better drink plenty of water (before it evaporates).

Stay inside all day pretending it’s snowing outside. Yankees have cabin fever. We develop something similar. It’s really not that bad out there but one gets so comfortable in the air-conditioning. Then, stepping outside, it feels so much worse than it really is. Or, maybe it is. ???

Do the fun less than half an hour drive, midday, and get all wet down your back with a profuse sweat because the car AC can’t cope. It will be running ice-cold just in time for you to get out at your destination.

Loss weight. This one is fun and positive. I always drop pounds in the Summer. You? I just don’t feel like eating anything – especially anything warmer than ice cream.

Ponder how the pioneers and the old-timers did it without AC.

Call the AC repairman and/or the electric company to find out why the unit crashed in the middle of the hottest day on record.

Write a blog post complaining about how hot it is.

Melt. Or catch on fire – your choice.

Search weather.com for northern cities or mountain locations to see how much cooler they have it at the moment. They do it too; the jealousy usually turns around mid-January.

Know it’s hot. Feel that it’s hot. Then, inexplicably, go out at 3 p.m. for a jog or a few fun hours with the lawn mower. This is a rite of passage, especially for men. A time to show “we still got it”. Whatever “it” is is a mystery. Amnesia, maybe?

Have a mild heat stroke and forget to stop with ten things to do in the heat…

Jesus told Peter “the gates of hell shall not prevail against” the Church. Matthew 16:18 (KJV). He did not say the Church wouldn’t be tested, attacked. Now, though they cannot beat us ultimately, the legions of hell have indeed come knocking. They’ve made war on churches in the Holy Land and the Middle East for years. Now they are attacking sanctuaries in the heart of Christendom.

The lamentation of the women. When will the men get angry? Daily Mail.

The church of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray was already known to police to be on an ISIS hit list. It’s only a short matter of time before the police reveal they were also previously aware of the subject terrorists. Hollande, Merkle and the whole gang of incompetent, suicidal morons running Europe must go – now. If they had good taste, they would resign.

Every morning I read stories (sometimes multiple per day) of attacks against the West. In the evenings I jog at a park while dodging hoards of zombies chasing cartoon characters. I sometimes ponder if I actually shift between dimensions.

This will be the last terrorism-related story I write at least for a while. Let me just predict that the attacks will continue and intensify as the year fails. There is much the common people can do about these atrocities, even without the assistance of our utterly useless governments. In the near future I will publish a guide of sorts on how to fight back.

As if the emails, fundraising, felony-dodging, Jew-bashing (was that just part of the Bernie bashing?), terrorist courting, and other shenanigans weren’t enough, a Hillary delegate pretty much admitted that the Democrats want an outright ban of firearms and a deletion of the Second Amendment. She also admitted they think the people are stupid.

Instead, Bayer revealed, Democrats use “moderate” language when it comes to guns to obscure their true purpose, a complete elimination of the Second Amendment.

“You have to take that sort of moderate… ‘We just wanna have common sense legislation so our children are safe!’” Bayer told the reporter, adding, “You say shit like that, and then people will buy into it.”

At least she called it what it is – “sh!t” that’s going to p!ss everybody off. Just tell lies and the people will buy it…

For the record, I don’t think Hillary gives a flip about the Second Amendment one way or the other. There’s no bribe …er… nothing in it for her. It’s some of the carnival sideshow nuts in the party that keep pushing gun control (you know, “sh!t like that”).

oowrestling.com.

The DNC knows it is in deep trouble this cycle. Come November the diehards and the gun grabbers are in for a rude awakening – something akin to what the Trump supporters will know in a few years.

Just remember, the Second Amendment was included in the Constitution to protect the people against this exact breed of political low-life.